Trending 
Nigeria’s Ministry of Education has disclosed that it is expanding technical and vocational training at scale in response to growing public debate over skills shortages and the country’s reliance on foreign technical expertise for major industrial projects.
The ministry, in a statement on Sunday by its spokesperson, Boriowo Folasade, said recent media commentary on skills deficits in Nigeria and across Africa had drawn attention to the long-standing workforce capacity challenges that the government is now seeking to address through reforms in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
The ministry said TVET has been elevated to a national priority under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, to build a workforce capable of supporting industrial growth and reducing dependence on external labour. According to the ministry, more than 100,000 Nigerians are currently enrolled in vocational and technical training programmes across federal and state technical colleges, skills training centres, and accredited vocational institutions.
“The Ministry welcomes this renewed public discourse on skills development, technical capacity, and workforce readiness. The issues highlighted reinforce the urgency of ongoing reforms being implemented by the Nigerian government under the leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, particularly in the area of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET),” the statement read.
It added that the government plans to train more than one million young Nigerians over the next two years, and the programmes are designed to align with labour market demand and national development priorities.
Training areas listed by the ministry include industrial mechanics, electrical installation, welding and fabrication, mechatronics, solar photovoltaic installation, compressed natural gas conversion and maintenance, refrigeration and air conditioning, information and communications technology, and related technical fields.
It also disclosed that it has introduced stipends for participants to support access, retention, and successful completion, adding that the first tranche of payments has been released to training centres, alongside stipend disbursements to beneficiaries, reinforcing accountability and programme sustainability.
